"I know that our decisions will cause disappointment to some," the chairman of the panel, Professor Stephen Crow, said.

"Not least to authorities who had looked to their casino proposal as a means of alleviating severe problems of deprivation, or even improving social conditions and meeting the need for economic regeneration."

The announcement comes amid warnings that increasing numbers of Britons are getting into difficulties with gambling, particularly linked to the boom in internet casinos.

The gambling advice charity GamCare said that the total number of people approaching it for counselling rose 41.3% from 2004.

Campaigners fear that more people will be sucked into financial difficulties as a result of the government's plans for super-casinos.

The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, insisted that new gambling laws would provide Britain with "the most protective legislation in the world" and that she would move to shut down casinos if it was shown that they were increasing problem gambling.

She said she did not accept that the new casinos would necessarily spark an increase in problems, but added that their impact would be monitored "very carefully indeed".

Asked if she would shut down casinos if they did cause problems, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The new gambling legislation gives me a number of reserve powers in the event that problem gambling does begin to increase in a way that causes concern."

Ms Jowell said that the gaming regime in force since the previous legislation in 1968 was out of step with the "explosion" in online gambling and other new forms of betting.

"We had to modernise and update our gambling laws, and we've done that," she said. "We will have the most protective legislation in the world."

Before last year's general election, Ms Jowell struck a deal with the Tories to save the gambling bill by agreeing to scale down plans for eight regional casinos to just one.